The Twelve Days of Christmas
by keep.the.hope
Summary: ""If I can't spend Christmas at home, I'm going to make this the best goddamn Christmas party you've ever seen! So no, Trent, I can't chill," Courtney snaps. Heather barely conceals her snort. God, that bitchy C.I.T. still amuses the crap out of her." Trent and Courtney sing at the Christmas party, and they both get more than they bargained for. (Santa Baby)
1. I'll Be Home For Christmas

Duncan glowers at the scene in front of him. Admittedly, it's not a _bad_ scene. It's not even the people he's with. Well, most of them. Maybe it's because of where they are and how shitty the situation is.

Geoff gives him a friendly punch in the shoulder and tips his head at Duncan. "Come on, brah, get in the holiday spirit!" the party boy cheers. Duncan rolls his eyes in response. He's not sure getting in the holiday spirit would help the situation. The lot of them are back for another season of that god-awful reality show, and of course, _of course_ , that slimeball is making them continue through the holiday season. Duncan vaguely remembers being allowed to visit his family during Action when the holidays rolled around. Granted, Chris was throwing a holiday party at that time, and nowadays everyone has realized how much of an ass he is that no one would come to a party if he threw one.

"Seriously, Duncan, not even you can hate Christmas," Gwen pipes up from her spot on a crate between Courtney and Trent. She shakes her head in amusement, and she and Courtney share a knowing look before looking back at him expectantly. He locks eyes with Courtney for a few seconds, and she gives him a small smile, a light back in her eyes that has been missing for the past few years.

That's another thing tugging at his conscience. Even though Duncan and Courtney had made up at the beginning of the season, being back in her life has shown him just how much she was hurting and how he never even noticed. So yeah, most days he feels like shit.

Duncan pushes himself off the wall, rolling his eyes yet again—seriously, why did everyone feel the need to gang up on _him_?—and walks closer to the circle of friends. He's not sure if he would consider all of these people his friends, but he wouldn't know what else to call them at this point. "I don't hate Christmas. I'm just pissed that we're on this hellish island instead of with our families." They had just finished filming the latest episode, and Chris said he wouldn't need them for a few days, so the group of young adults raided one of Chris's empty warehouses to . . . to . . . well, Duncan isn't sure what they're doing there. Bonding? It sounds laughable even to him.

He looks around at the remaining contestants. Most of the faces he's well acquainted with. Bridgette sits beside Courtney, the two sharing a blanket bundled together on a crate. Noah and Owen sit on the floor by Trent's crate. Alejandro and Heather lounge together on the pile of pillows they brought with them. Neither of them even bother him anymore; he thinks at this point any animosity between the first generation cast is now only directed at Chris.

The second generation cast gives Duncan mixed feelings. While Zoey reminds him of his younger sister, he can't deny that her boyfriend Mike—who isn't here, _thank God_ —makes him uneasy. Duncan has grown fond of Scott, who has a track record similar to Duncan's, in these past weeks, but he's not sure what to make of the pixie girl Dawn, who seems to be making it her mission to save Scott's soul. There's also the weird beetle-whispering thing. Duncan just tries to ignore that. The only one left from the second gen cast is daddy's girl Dakota. He knows she had that mutation thing, but it was mostly fixed. Sometimes if she's mad her eyes will glow red, and rather than ignore that anything ever happened to her, she has green streaks running through her blond hair. But other than that, she's really harmless in a Lindsay kind of way.

Duncan dislikes the third generation cast. Only two remain, and that's because most of them irritated the other two generations. Sammy took a quick liking to Courtney, probably because of her take-no-bullshit attitude from anyone and Sammy stood in the shadow of her sister when they appeared on the dock at the beginning of the season. Amy left a few episodes into the season after Heather decided she didn't like some new girl trying to steal her title as resident mean girl. That had been one of Duncan's favorite eliminations this season.

The other remaining contestant from the third generation is Sky. She doesn't seem like much of a people person and mostly keeps to herself, though she does seem to like Dawn. Must be some naturey people thing.

Courtney sighs wistfully, and Sammy looks up at her from where she sits at the foot of Bridgette and Courtney's crate. "What I wouldn't give to be home right now," she says, eyes closed in a daydream and a smile on her face.

Alejandro looks over at her from his spot on the pillows. "Well, if you can't actually be there, just imagine it." He shifts his gaze to Trent, whose guitar rests in his lap. "Amigo, please provide some Christmas tunes." Trent raises his eyebrow at the term of friendship but obliges the Spaniard's request. Alejandro starts with the beginning of a song that everyone soon recognizes. "I'll be home, I'll be home for Christmas. I'll be home, I'll be home, oh. I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree."

The smile on Courtney's face brightens as she takes over for Alejandro. "Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams. I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." At the chorus nearly everyone joins in. "I'll be home, I'll be home for Christmas. I'll be home, I'll be home, oh."

Bridgette and Sammy share a look before continuing together. "I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree." Courtney, Alejandro, and Trent join them in the next part. "Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams. I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams."

Again the group of friends all sing together. "I'll be home, I'll be home for Christmas. I'll be home, I'll be home, oh."

Duncan has yet to open his mouth, and he's dimly reminded of World Tour when he nearly refused to sing. Even though he's not ashamed to admit he can carry a tune quite well, Duncan just does not like to sing. He looks around at all the happy faces, and he finds Courtney's dark eyes trained on him. And he knows, _he knows_ , all she wants is for everyone around her to be happy— _"Because it's Christmas, dammit!"_ —so he makes a point of looking at her as he sings the last line. "If only in my dreams."

Later, when it appears that everyone's fallen asleep, she finds him where he's holed himself up in one of the corners of the warehouse. She drags her blanket with her, and even though his eyes are closed, Duncan smirks because he knows it's her. He reclines against the wall, waiting for her to announce her presence.

"Duncan?" she whispers into the dark. His smirk grows as she continues. "Duncan, are you awake?"

"Courtney, it's like three a.m." he whispers back, eyes still closed.

"Well, are you awake enough to talk?" The impatience in her tone amuses him more, and he opens his eyes, teal searching for onyx. When he finds her, he pats the space next to him, and Courtney doesn't hesitate to wiggle herself into the spot under his arm. Duncan remembers when they used to do this as more than friends, and a dull ache fills his chest at the thought. He tries not to dwell on it.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asks in the hopes of distracting himself.

"Um, well, I wanted to thank you for earlier," she says. "You know, with the singing. I know it's not really your thing, but seeing everyone come together like that, I really needed it, so . . . thank you," she finishes.

The shock must be apparent in his voice when he replies, "Oh, uh, you're welcome, I guess?" Courtney shifts under his arm to look up at him.

"You sound surprised," she notes.

"I didn't know that it meant so much to you," he reveals. She turns away again as she says her next words.

"You being here, talking to me, caring about my feelings . . . _that_ means the world to me. You don't know how many times I wished I could just talk to you and not have you think it was another crazy ex-girlfriend thing. I just needed someone to talk to, to listen to me, and I'm not sure anyone else knows me as well as you do."

He tries to calm her down by running his fingers through her hair. She relaxes her tense muscles, dropping her head to his shoulder. He continues playing with her hair, more as a distraction for himself now than her. "I'm sorry I didn't pay close enough attention before, Court."

"Please don't do that," she whispers.

"Do what?"

" _That_. Blame yourself for all the bad things that happened after we broke up. Most of it was my fault, so please don't put it on yourself." She sighs, and he can hear how _tired_ she is, not physically but emotionally. "Can we talk about something else?" Her voice is small, and again he's hit with the constant pain she's in.

"Uh, okay. What are your plans for Christmas?"

She smacks his chest. "You're not funny, Duncan."

"I know, I'm hilarious."

She chuckles at that. He's glad. He likes hearing her laugh. "Can't I just stay in this corner with you forever?" she says hopefully. It's his turn to laugh. She grins into his chest. "I'm serious. No responsibilities for once in my life, just the warm feeling of being in the presence of someone who cares about me." His throat tightens, even though her words are light and carefree.

"I think you should get some sleep, Princess. I don't think your brain is working right."

"My brain works just fine, thank you very much." He loves her haughty tone, her prissy little attitude. It reminds him of sixteen-year-old them.

Duncan feels her body relax a little more under his arm, and he knows she's beginning to drift off. He thinks she's finally asleep, too, until she speaks up.

"Oh, and Duncan?" She yawns, snuggling closer into his chest, their combined body heat suddenly making him very tired.

"Hmm?" He's half asleep at this point and not really listening.

"Happy birthday."

He smiles into her hair as he drifts off.

* * *

 **hey, if you're reading this, thank you! this was something sitting in my head the past few days and i finally felt it was appropriate to start posting holiday themed writing.**

 **truthfully, when i started writing this, i didn't intend for it to be a duncney piece. it was mostly supposed to be the cast chilling and singing christmas carols. of course it had to take a much sadder turn (or bittersweet, depending on how you interpret it).**

 **anyway, if you liked this, please comment any christmas songs and/or characters you'd like to see featured in one of these one shots (of the characters already mentioned here. the one shots will be chronological following this one). -hopeful :)**


	2. When Christmas Comes To Town

Bridgette likes to think the people on this island are her friends. She is, after all, one of the more liked contestants. Even though she hadn't competed in All Stars—which is a blessing, _really_ —Bridgette has gotten along quite nicely with the second and even third generation cast. Now, even Bridgette can admit that some of them aren't all exactly there in the head—Scarlett—or just flat out stupid—Lightning—but for the most part she thinks they're all good people.

Of the newer contestants, Bridgette notes, Sammy is probably the closest to her. She can thank Courtney for that, after the brunette had pulled the shy cheerleader over to their group of friends in the mess hall. Nobody bothers with sitting together as teams anymore, because really, the teams aren't all they're cracked up to be, and Bridgette and Courtney always sit together, even though _they_ aren't on the same team—something Courtney sulked over for a few days, but Bridgette eventually convinced her that the teams didn't really matter.

Courtney's very protective of Sammy; this is clear to the rest of the contestants. Maybe it's because she reminds Courtney of her younger self, before this show took away all that was _good_ in Courtney, but the Latina is very determined to not let anything happen to Sammy.

There is a point to the surfer's thoughts. This has to do with Courtney's protective nature toward the younger girl. Since the two are on the same team, they've gotten pretty close. So close, Bridgette admits, that they were next to each other when everyone went to bed last night. Except now Courtney isn't there.

Bridgette sits up with some effort, Geoff's arm heavy over her midsection. Sammy sleeps peacefully a few feet from her, but where is Courtney? Bridgette knows her best friend isn't an insomniac, though she does have a bad case of anxiety. But Bridgette knows that it's not like Courtney to up and leave in the middle of the night.

Frantically, the surfer looks around the warehouse, eyes searching for her friend. When her eyes finally land on the brunette, she has to do a double take. Frankly, though, Bridgette's surprised this hasn't happened sooner. Her best friend's body is coiled around that of a reformed delinquent. She's mad at Courtney, though, for surrendering to the feelings she swore up and down were gone. " _I told you, Bridge, we're just friends now."_ Yeah, in the same way Bridgette and Geoff are _just friends_.

She glares at Courtney from across the room. She just . . . she just can't believe she'd do this! Although Bridgette really holds no ill will toward Duncan, she hates that he makes an emotional mess of her best friend.

Frustrated, Bridgette begins to shake Geoff awake. "Geoff!" she whisper-shouts. "Geoff, wake up!"

"Mmm," he mumbles groggily.

"Geoff, this an emergency!" Her boyfriend bolts upright at that, looking around frantically.

"Bridge? Is everything all right?" He's still not entirely awake, and a twinge of regret fills her as Bridgette scolds herself for waking him so abruptly. Then she remembers the situation, and that feeling is gone.

"No, everything is not all right!" She waits for Geoff to blink the sleep from his eyes before continuing. "Your idiot best friend has my best friend wrapped around his body!"

Geoff's eyes dart to where Duncan and Courtney sleep in the corner, blissfully unaware of the scrutiny of their best friends. Geoff looks back at Bridgette, frowning. "So?" Bridgette wants to scream at his calm demeanor.

" _So?_ So, clearly Courtney wasn't thinking straight or something, because she would never willingly ever crawl back into his arms!" Bridgette bursts out, unable to contain herself any longer. A few others stir at her voice, but nobody wakes.

"Bridge, it doesn't matter if it's a mistake. We're adults now. If Courtney wants to let Duncan back into her life, that's _her_ decision. I mean, look at _us!_ Your mom doesn't want us to get married, but that's not going to stop us, because we're adults and we can make our own decisions. _So_ , it's really none of our business what our friends do. We should just want them to be happy." Geoff places his hands on her shoulders, staring directly into her eyes. "Don't you want her to be happy?" He sounds so sad as he says this, because he knows how sad Courtney's been the past few years, and she's his friend, too, so maybe Bridgette is overthinking this.

She sighs, casting her eyes down and shaking his hands off her shoulders. "Of course, I want her to be happy," she concedes. Bridgette looks back up at him. "But last time she was happy like this . . . well, that happy turned sad. And I don't want her to be sad again." Her eyes are welling up with tears, and Geoff uses his thumbs to wipe them away.

"Look, Bridge, I get where you're coming from, but Mocha may not, so when you get the chance, why don't you talk to her? I'll even talk to Duncan to make it clear if he has any intention of hurting her again to get out now." Bridgette nods at Geoff's words, looking back to where Courtney still sleeps wrapped around Duncan. Admittedly, it's quite touching, with his left arm pulling her body closer to his, and she has the smallest smile on her face. Geoff's reminder about them being adults now finally hits her as she watches her friends dream. Bridgette recognizes Courtney's shoulder length hair of her adolescence has grown out to the middle of her back, and the Latina finally wears sensible shoes. Her red sweater and black pants make her look more mature, as well as the angled features of her face that make her look grown up. As for Duncan . . . well, he doesn't even resemble the Duncan she met nearly five years ago. His green fauxhawk is gone and in its place is a mop of black hair. The dog collar has been discarded, along with most of his piercings. He looks . . . dare she say it, he looks almost normal. And Bridgette loves the punk, she does, in the way a girl loves her annoying older brother, but she wouldn't deny he used to be _so_ immature. Hell, Geoff had been right along with him. But Bridgette's really started to see a change in him. Out of all the contestants on the show, Bridgette hates to admit, Duncan is the most personable. At one point or another, he's somehow talked to literally everyone on this show. Sure, he doesn't _like_ most of them, but he knows how to talk to people. So if Duncan is willing to grow up, Bridgette supposes she should let him. Which means staying out of his business with her best friend.

The surfer frowns, turning back toward Geoff. "All right. I'll leave them alone, but I will make sure Courtney doesn't start spiraling again. She's come _so far,_ Geoff. She's going to _law school_ soon, and I don't want some crummy reality show taking that away from her. It's just . . . it's just not fair," she pouts. Geoff chuckles at her childish statement, pulling her into a hug.

"Relax, this is _Mocha_ we're talking about. She can do anything she puts her mind to—and I mean _anything_." Geoff smiles reassuringly. Bridgette tries her hardest to return it.

"That's what I'm worried about."

Hours later Bridgette sits with Sammy and Gwen outside the warehouse, a small fire burning brightly in front of them. Courtney and Trent forced everyone to leave the warehouse, stating that they were going to have a Christmas party. Everyone left except Heather and Alejandro, insisting they should plan the party. Because Courtney is friends with Heather now—no one was more shocked than Gwen—she shrugged at the notion and said they could decorate. This led to Heather ordering Geoff and Duncan to go cut down a tree, and Dakota and Zoey went back to camp to find things to decorate the tree. Dawn and Sky tagged along, hoping to find some lights, and Scott went in search of food. With the mention of food, Owen soon followed him. Noah only went "to make sure the lovable oaf doesn't eat any of the food we _can_ find." This leaves Sammy, Bridgette, and Gwen alone by the fire. For a while they sit in comfortable silence until Sammy breaks it.

"I've never done anything like this before," she confesses. Bridgette and Gwen look at each other and then at her.

"Done what?" Gwen asks for the two of them.

Sammy looks away from the fire and over at them. "Celebrated Christmas with friends. Back home nobody ever remembered to include me in anything. People just assumed that since Amy and I look alike that we're basically the same person, so what's the point of having both of us around?" The shy cheerleader glances back at the fire, sadness suddenly overtaking her features. She smiles sadly—or bitterly, Bridgette can't be sure—and begins to sing a song of Christmas past. "La, la, la, la . . ." Immediately Bridgette is struck by the heartache in the notes. "I'm wishing on a star and trying to believe that even though it's far he'll find me Christmas Eve. I guess that Santa's busy 'cause he's never come around. I think of him when Christmas comes to town."

Bridgette tries to cheer the girl up with some happy lyrics in response. "The best time of the year when everyone comes home. With all this Christmas cheer it's hard to be alone. Putting up the Christmas tree with friends who come around. It's so much fun when Christmas comes to town." Sammy doesn't look convinced, so she tries again. "Presents for the children, wrapped in red and green."

The sad girl only responds bitterly, "All the things I've heard about but never really seen." Bridgette joins her in the next part, trying—failing—to lighten the mood. "No one will be sleeping on the night of Christmas Eve, hoping Santa's on his way."

Bridgette sings the tune of her statement from before. "Presents for the children, wrapped in red and green."

Sammy still isn't sold on the idea and responds the same as before. "All the things I've heard about but never really seen."

Sighing at this, Bridgette continues as they sing together, "No one will be sleeping on the night of Christmas Eve, hoping Santa's on his way."

"When Santa's sleigh bells ring," Bridgette tries again.

"I listen all around," Sammy sings glumly.

Not one to be deterred, Bridgette continues. "The herald angels sing."

Sammy shakes her head sadly as she sings, "I never hear a sound."

Resigned, Bridgette tries a final time. "And all the dreams of children . . ." She can't bear to look at Sammy anymore, afraid of the girl's response.

". . . once lost will all be found." Bridgette feels a hand pressing against her arm. When she looks up, Sammy smiles at her apologetically. Bridgette knows she's crying, but she doesn't bother to wipe away the tears.

Together, the girls finish the song on a bittersweet note. "That's all I want when Christmas comes to town. That's all I want when Christmas comes to town."

As Bridgette wipes her face, Sammy speaks up. "I'm sorry for being such a downer, but Christmas was never something I looked forward to." She shrugs her shoulders, and Bridgette lets out a choked laugh.

"Well, I hope I changed your mind."

"You did," Sammy relents. "I'm not used to having friends, so I'm sorry for not believing you." At the silence that follows, Sammy speaks up again. "Speaking of things that I don't believe . . ." she trails off. Bridgette and Gwen look at her expectantly. "Is what I heard about Courtney and Duncan true?"

The pair of old friends glance at each other before they burst out laughing.

"Oh, you sweet, innocent snowflake," Gwen laughs affectionately. "I don't even think Duncan and Courtney know what's going on with Duncan and Courtney."

"Oh . . ." Sammy frowns in confusion. "Well, in that case, I'll go see if she's just about done." The blonde gets up from her tree stump and goes inside.

Gwen and Bridgette share a look. Gwen raises an eyebrow. "Should we be worried about Court?" she asks. Bridgette sighs.

"I don't know, Gwen. I promised Geoff I'd leave it alone, but I'm not sure I can keep that promise," the surfer confesses.

"This _is_ Courtney," the goth reminds her. "I'm pretty sure she'd be more mad if we _did_ get involved. I'm just pissed she hasn't mentioned anything. We haven't kept secrets from each other for two years now." Gwen scowls as she thinks of Courtney keeping her out of the loop. Bridgette, biting her lip, nervously runs a hand through her hair.

"I just hope she's happy with the choices she makes," Bridgette replies.

She _really_ needs to talk to Courtney.

* * *

 **second update in 24 hours? don't expect this often. well, two chapters down, ten to go!**

 **i have a few songs i plan on using:**

 **\- last christmas**

 **\- baby, it's cold outside**

 **\- santa baby**

 **\- jingle bell rock (the mean girls one lmao)**

 **but i'm not sure exactly which songs (chapters) will feature what characters. my goal is to write about as many as i can, but everyone's plot will be continued (ex. how i continued duncney after the first chapter; likewise, bridgette will continue trying to give sammy the best christmas ever). next chapter will most likely be trent's, but i still can't decide on last christmas or santa baby. evidently, if no one responds, i'll end up choosing one, but i'd still like your input! -hopeful :)**


	3. Santa Baby

Trent likes Courtney. She's a close friend, and he appreciates her interest in his music. But sometimes, Courtney scares Trent. Like right now.

"Gah! This is going to be a disaster!" the former C.I.T. exclaims.

Trent notices Heather and Alejandro discreetly roll their eyes. Normally, he'd chastise the couple for thinking Courtney is overreacting. Right now, though, he kind of agrees with them. Courtney's been like this for the past. Half. Hour.

Now, it takes a lot to irritate Trent. As far as people go, he's pretty laid back. After Action, Trent saw a therapist for the whole "nine" thing, so he's essentially back to his old self. Gwen doesn't seem like she's ready to run away from him at any given moment anymore, so that's a plus. It's also something he owes to Courtney. Granted, it was a two-way deal for Gwen and Courtney to make up with their respective exes, but Courtney was the first to suggest Gwen speak to Trent. When Gwen turned it around on her, saying she'd only do it if Courtney _civilly_ spoke to Duncan, the Type A was stuck. She didn't want to speak to Duncan, but Trent begged her, pointing out that Gwen never said the conversation had to be long. Eventually, the Latina gave in, and Trent is eternally grateful.

That doesn't mean the girl can't piss him off.

"Jesus, Courtney!" Trent bursts out. "Would you chill for, like, one minute?" She stops pacing to glare at him.

"If I can't spend Christmas at home, I'm going to make this the best goddamn Christmas party you've ever seen! So no, Trent, I can't _chill_ ," Courtney snaps. Heather barely conceals her snort. God, that bitchy C.I.T. still amuses the crap out of her.

"This has nothing to do with the party and you know it!" he fires back.

"What are you talking about? I just want—"

"Would you stop trying to convince yourself that nobody knows you slept with Duncan last night?" Trent knows this is a low blow, but it's better to get it out in the open.

As soon as the words leave his mouth, he hears a crate drop and a string of Spanish curses. Trent internally cringes, beginning to feel guilty. Okay, so _maybe_ now wasn't the time—

"It's not like that!" Courtney huffs. He knows she's offended, that she's hurt that _he_ of all people would assume something like that. Trent wasn't trying to imply anything, but if she wants to explain he's not going to stop her.

"We didn't do anything," she says in a much calmer voice. She wraps her arms around herself. "We just talked. It wasn't some big, deep conversation. I was feeling restless, and I knew he'd be awake, so I went over to him and, well, we talked. That's it. It was cold. His body was warm. Then I fell asleep, and . . . I don't know, he's been trying to make it up to me after all the pain he put me through, but I like that he's trying." Courtney stares at nothing as she loses herself in thought, a small smile on her face. Then her gaze focuses and she bites her lip, looking back at Trent. "I'm not stressed because of last night. I'm stressed because I haven't spent a Christmas with him in four years, and today's his birthday, and I want him to be happy, too. I want him to see that I appreciate him trying, and I want to return the effort. So please don't say that this is something more than it is. I'm _just_ being his friend, and friends do nice things for each other."

Heather and Alejandro are trying really hard to act like they're not eavesdropping. Trent knows Courtney's aware that they both just heard every word she said, but she must really trust them because she doesn't seem upset by it. Instead she continues pacing, and Trent doesn't want her to go back to what she was doing before, so he stops her before her pacing gets too intense.

"Hey, Court, why don't we go over this song one more time?" He grabs his guitar off the floor, Courtney looking at him warily. He knows she's nervous, so he hopes singing a few songs before everyone gets back will help her.

His distraction seems to work. After a few songs, Courtney doesn't remember she was nervous in the first place. Trent lets out a breath of relief at that.

When it appears to be getting darker outside, everyone begins to make their way back into the warehouse. People have come and gone in the past few hours, though. Geoff and Duncan hauled a huge tree in there—and Courtney had angrily scolded them, saying, "You really had to pick the biggest tree you could carry, didn't you? How the hell do you suppose we decorate it?" To which Duncan responded, "Don't know, Princess, don't care. I was put on tree duty; decorating it is someone else's problem." Courtney had let out a scream of frustration and stormed out of the warehouse, Duncan following to apologize. Eventually she came back in with Zoey and Dakota in tow, both girls eager to decorate the tree. When the girls saw the height of the tree, they sighed in defeat. Trent and Alejandro stood on crates to reach the top of the tree. It wasn't a pleasant experience. (Trent was practically hugging the tree.) Dawn and Sky did find lights, and they began to string them around the warehouse, along with wreaths they had made. Geoff is still outside by the fire cooking up the food found by Scott, Owen, and Noah. Despite loving to eat, Owen is a terrible cook, so the party boy, a surprisingly good cook, offered to do it.

Courtney sits next to Trent on a crate, her leg bouncing up and down nervously. He glances from her leg to her face. When it doesn't look like she knows she's performing the nervous tic, Trent nudges her with his shoulder. She looks over at him, her bottom lip between her teeth, and then she realizes her leg is bouncing. She quickly slams her hand on top of it, and Trent chuckles at her mild embarrassment.

"Oh, God, how long was I doing that?" Courtney asks worriedly. Trent shakes his head in amusement.

"A few minutes, maybe. Any reason you're anxious now? The place looks great. Everyone seems to be in the holiday spirit. You got what you wanted, Court," he acknowledges. Dakota found a Santa hat back at camp and happily placed it on Courtney's head, saying she adored Courtney's idea and determination to get it done. It made Courtney smile, but now she looks like she doesn't even know it's Christmas.

She doesn't answer his question, so he pushes on. "This wouldn't have anything to do a certain former flame, would it?" Courtney's back straightens as her eyes dart nervously over his face.

"Why? Does is seem like it does? Because it doesn't." Trent raises an eyebrow at her defensive statement. She casts her eyes down, sighing. "Sometimes I wish my brain would just stop," she confesses.

"Court, I'm going to need a bit more of an explanation before I can definitively respond to that." Courtney looks back at him, giving a small laugh.

"Not like _that_ ," she explains. "I mean, I wish I could stop overanalyzing things. Maybe then I wouldn't question my feelings. Last night was time I spent confiding in my friend, but now I'm wondering if I read all the signs, or if I'm crazy and there are no signs. Either way, it's annoyingly stressful, and I'd quite like it if my brain would just stop."

"Well, let's forget about that for right now and sing some songs for these people," Trent suggests. Courtney smiles and nods at his offer.

The musician stands up, brushing off his blue button up shirt—because adults don't wear t-shirts if they want to be taken seriously, apparently—and clears his throat loudly, hoping to catch the attention of the room. Heather sees his pitiful attempt and yells out, "Hey, losers, shut up, the music man's got something to say!" All the heads in the room swivel in Trent and Courtney's direction, and both of them swallow nervously, despite only having a crowd of fourteen other people. They look at each other in comical horror before Trent releases a breath and starts speaking.

"So, um, we wanted to sing you guys some Christmas songs, which is why we made you all leave earlier. Without further ado, I guess?" He doesn't know why he's nervous. He's performed in front of crowds ten times this size. Trent blames it on Courtney; she probably transferred half her nerves into him.

Trent looks at Courtney, who nods, and he begins the opening chords to 'Santa Baby.' She smiles shyly before she starts singing. "Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me. I've been an awful good girl, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight." She hasn't moved from the crate, and she looks paralyzed with fear. Trent raises his eyebrows at her, silently asking, _Do you want me to sing the next verse with you?_ She nods vigorously.

So the pair of friends continue together, "Santa baby, a '54 convertible, too, light blue. Well I'll wait up for you, dear, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight, yeah." Courtney's shoulders relax, and she pushes herself off the box. Trent watches her as she walks over to Gwen and Bridgette. Her friends have ridiculous grins on their faces, and the musician thinks Courtney's more comfortable singing by her friends, so he doesn't continue with her.

"Think of all the fun I've missed. Think of all the boys I haven't kissed." Gwen snorts at that, and Courtney responds by kissing her friend on the cheek. "Next year I could be just as good if you check off my Christmas list." The Latina sidles over toward Sammy, throwing her arms around the younger girl, swaying back and forth. "Santa baby, I want a yacht and really that's not a lot. I've been an angel all year." She bats her eyelashes, and Sammy laughs. Bridgette watches them, grinning. "Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight."

Soon after Courtney is sliding over to where Duncan and Geoff are. She throws an arm around each of their shoulders, her head thrown back in pure, unadulterated enjoyment. "Santa, honey, there's one more thing I really do need: the deed to a platinum mine. Santa honey, so hurry down the chimney tonight." She hugs them both before scampering away.

Courtney's next stop is Heather, whose eyebrow is raised at the former C.I.T. The Latina only grins as her as she continues the song, mockingly singing it at the Queen Bee. "Come and trim my Christmas tree with some decorations bought at Tiffany's. I really do believe in you. Let's see if you believe in me." She holds her hands in front of her heart, eyes wide and hopeful. Heather smiles at the display of affection from her friend as she rolls her eyes. Courtney's grin widens in satisfaction, and then she floats back over to Trent and their trusty crate.

As she comes bounding back, Courtney hops up on the crate, Trent standing beside it. "Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing: a ring." She whips her hand in Trent's face, and the guitarist rolls his eyes as he pauses his playing to bat her hand away. "And I don't mean on the phone, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight." Trent plays the outro of the song while their friends clap at their performance.

Gwen and Bridgette rush over to their friend, Sammy awkwardly trailing behind. They throw their arms around Courtney as they laugh together.

"Damn, Court, we knew you could sing, but that was quite the performance," Gwen comments. They laugh again, and Trent can't help but feel he's intruding, but then Gwen shifts her gaze to him and smiles. He smiles back, hoping upon hope that it doesn't look as awkward as it feels.

Courtney talks a bit more with her friends before shooing them away because " _I've practiced at least five different songs today, so you're hearing at least five of those songs."_ Trent laughs at her passive aggressive statement.

The rest of the songs are more laid back, with everyone chiming in at one point or another. They finish with a pretty joyful edition of "O Come, All Ye Faithful," and afterward the warehouse is buzzing with chatter. Trent loses Courtney in their sea of friends when he turns around to put away his guitar. He shakes his head in amusement that not even a minute after their last performance she's busy mingling.

"That was some show you put on there," a voice chimes from behind him. He comes face to face with Gwen, a childish grin on her face. He's still adjusting to the strictly black color of her hair, so used to the teal streaks. Granted, they are twenty-one, but still. "Gotta admit, though, that really reminded me why I always loved Christmas growing up." She takes Courtney's place on the crate, and Trent leans against it rather than sit next to her.

"Well, after spending the whole day singing the same songs over and over with Courtney, I'm glad it's over," he confesses. Gwen laughs at that.

"Hey, I love her as much as the next person, but I honestly don't know how you spent a whole day with her. I mean, I can only imagine she went into full control-freak-Courtney mode." She pauses as she realizes what she just said. A laugh bubbles out of her. "Please don't tell her I said that!" she begs, still laughing. Trent shakes his head, still smiling like an idiot.

"It wasn't that bad. She was pretty chill after I calmed her down from one of her meltdowns." He shrugs his shoulders, not really thinking about the subject of Courtney's meltdown earlier.

"What was it about?" she asks, curious. Trent's eyes widen, but he quickly composes himself. Gwen is one of Courtney's best friends, he reasons, so there's no harm in telling her.

"You really should be asking _who_ it was about," he reveals. Gwen gasps, although she doesn't seem that surprised.

"No!" Gwen waits for him to deny it, but Trent only nods. "That bitch!" she whines. Trent stares wide-eyed at her, and Gwen recognizes his confusion. "Oh, no!" she quickly corrects. "I didn't mean it like _that_. It's just that I was talking with Bridgette earlier, and she offhandedly mentioned something about Courtney and Duncan, and I was pissed because Court hasn't said zip about him, which means she's hiding something from me." Gwen pauses for a moment to think. "But you basically just confirmed there _is_ something going on between them!" She scowls, crossing her arms.

"Listen, Gwen, I don't think she's said anything because she's still trying to figure things out for herself. She told me she just wants to be his friend right now, but she's also afraid that she's overthinking things—which she generally is—and she doesn't want to ruin what they have right now," Trent tells her gently. Gwen sighs, letting him know she understands what he's saying is probably true, but that she's still hurt Courtney told him and not her.

A barely audible gasp attracts the attention of the former couple, and they look at Bridgette's shocked face as she tugs on Geoff's arm, and Gwen and Trent follow Bridgette's line of sight.

"Hey, uh, Trent?"

"Yeah?"

"I think she's figured it out."

"Uh huh."

* * *

 **wow, this one was fun. honestly, i didn't plan on finishing this so quickly, but i like to procrastinate homework, so this happened. also, a little clarification, just because a chapter/song focuses on one character's perspective doesn't mean that character is singing the song. the only ones that will have solos are those characters that everyone can recognize sing better than the others. the second and third gen cast i have to assume some of them can sing otherwise i'd focus too much on the first gen. not to contradict myself, the next chapter is most likely going to be 'last christmas' featuring gwen, but soon after that i plan on doing 'jingle bell rock' with zoey (and maybe dakota; not sure who to make the karen smith). thanks for reading! -hopeful :)**

 **p.s. the joyful version of 'o come, all ye faithful'? that was the pentatonix version. seriously, if you haven't heard it, you need to. it's literally everything.**


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